Soda machine pronged clamp

ABSTRACT

A home use carbonation machine includes a carbonation assembly to carbonate liquid with pressurized gas, an electrical controller to operate the carbonation assembly and at least one safeguard to terminate the supply of pressurized gas in the event of an electrical outage. The carbonation assembly includes a pronged clamp apparatus for attaching a soda bottle to the carbonation machine.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/570,294, filed 9 Aug. 2012 which claims priority from U.S.provisional patent applications 61/521,794, filed Aug. 10, 2011, and61/624,306, filed Apr. 15, 2012, all of which are incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to carbonation machines generally and toclamping devices for attaching bottles to the machines in particular.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Soda machines for the carbonation of beverages are known in the art.Most such devices for home carbonation are designed for manualoperation; typically comprising a manually operated gas release valve torelease CO₂ into a closed bottle of water from an attached pressurizedcylinder. Such machines typically also comprise one or more safetypressure release valves which are designed to vent if excess pressurebuilds up during the carbonization process.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,975,988, hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference, discloses a carbonation assembly with twopressure release valves. The first valve is designed to vent with anaudible sound at a level of pressure consistent with the maximumprocessing pressure. The second release valve is designed to vent at ahigher level of pressure as a safety measure in case the first valvemalfunctions and/or for whatever reason CO₂ continues to flow into thebottle uncontrolled and the pressure rises past the recommended levelfor safe operation.

SUMMARY

There is provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention a home use carbonation machine including a carbonationassembly to carbonate liquid with pressurized gas, an electricalcontroller to operate the carbonation assembly and at least onesafeguard to terminate the supply of pressurized gas in the event of anelectrical outage.

Moreover, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the carbonation assembly includes a pronged clamp apparatusfor attaching a soda bottle to the carbonation machine.

Further, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the at least one safeguard includes at least one normallyopen safety valve to vent the bottle when the carbonation machine is notactively carbonating.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation,together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following detailed description when readwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is an isometric view of a carbonating head assembly with apronged clamp, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 1A in a sodamachine;

FIGS. 1C and 1D are cross-sectional views of two states of the prongedclamp of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1E is a close up view of the clamp of FIG. 1A clamped to a bottle;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic illustrations of two alternativeembodiments of a double action normally open valve;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross sectional views of a novel semi-automated homesoda machine, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are close up views of the carbonating gear assembly ofFIGS. 3A and 3B;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the semi-automated home sodamachine in FIGS. 3A and 3B;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a locking mechanism safety featurefor the semi-automated home soda machine in FIGS. 3A and 3B; and

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic illustrations of an alternative lockingmechanism safety feature for a soda machine in two states.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale.For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements for clarity. Further, where consideredappropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures toindicate corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thepresent invention may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

It will be appreciated that the standard water bottles that may be usedwith prior art machines may typically have threaded spouts designed tofacilitate screwing on a bottle cap. In the prior art, the bottles maytypically be attached to a home soda machine by rotating the bottleseveral times to “screw in” the threaded spout to a mount on themachine. Applicants have realized that, while this may seem secure, itis an awkward way to mount the bottle.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, awater bottle may be attached to a soda machine via a simple “positionand press” process, without requiring any rotational motions, using aflower-like, pronged clamp.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1A which illustrates a carbonation headassembly 130 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. Assembly 130 may comprise carbonating heads lower 135,exhaust valve 210, safety valve 220, carbonation injector 230, bottleinsertion lever 240 and pronged clamp 250. Pronged clamp 250 maycomprise flexible prongs 255 which may be attachable to a bottle.Exhaust valve 210 and safety valve 220 may function in generally thesame manner as in the prior art. For example, exhaust valve 210 may beconfigured to vent at 8 bars of pressure to indicate that thecarbonation in a bottle may have reached recommended levels; safetyvalve 220 may be configured to vent at 11 bars of pressure.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B to which reference is also made, in operation,a user may insert a water bottle 170 by first positioning it at an anglesuch that injector 230 extends into bottle 170 while bottle 170 comes incontact with the center of pronged clamp 250 on the underside ofcarbonating head lower 135. As will be disclosed hereinbelow, oncebottle 170 is in position it may be locked into place by pressing itagainst bottle insertion lever 240 which in turn may cause pronged clamp250 to clamp on bottle 170 and generally seal its opening.

Reference is now also made to FIGS. 1C and 1D which illustratealternative cross sectional views of assembly 130 without bottle 170 inorder to afford a fuller view of the elements of assembly 130 thateffect its attachment. As illustrated in both FIGS. 1C-1D, assembly 130may also comprise pivot rod 260. Pivot rod 260 may extend between pivotpoints 265 on assembly 130. Pivot point 265A may be attached to thechassis of assembly 130 and may generally remain in the same positionwhen lever 240 is pushed inwards by bottle 170. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that upon insertion of bottle 170, the attitude of pivot rod260 may change as per the movement of pivot point 265B in the generaldirection of lever 240.

Assembly 130 may also comprise constricting ring 268. Constricting ring268 may be generally square in shape with a hollow center, and maygenerally be positioned in parallel to carbonating head lower 135. Asshown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, in an “open” state, when inserting bottle 170,constricting ring 268 may be positioned just underneath platform 135,thus encompassing the upper portions of prongs 255. It will beappreciated that although FIGS. 1C and 1D may represent cross sectionalviews; ring 268 may generally constitute a ring around prongs 255 andthe mouth of bottle 170.

As discussed hereinabove, it will be appreciated that since pivot point265B may be attached to ring 268, it may move in generally the samedirection as insertion lever 240. Accordingly, when bottle 170 may bepressed against lever 240 in the direction of Arrow A (FIG. 1C) by auser, the differential between pivot points 265A and 265B may lower ring268, thereby constricting pronged clamp 250 to hold bottle 170 in placeunderneath platform 135.

It will be appreciated that lever 240 may be positioned to allow bottle170 to snugly fit against it when inserted into pronged clamp 250. Thismay reduce slippage during the insertion process of bottle 170 and maytherefore prevent incidental breakage of parts of assembly 130. Inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, lever240 may be positioned such that a space of no more than 0.5 mm may existbetween lever 240 and bottle 170 when bottle 170 is properly positionedin clamp 250.

The clamping process may be understood by comparing FIGS. 1C and 1D. InFIG. 1C, pivot rod 260 may be positioned at an angle and ring 268 may bepositioned adjacent to carbonating head lower 135. In FIG. 1D, pivot rod260 may be generally vertical and there may be distance between ring 268and carbonating head lower 135. As pivot rod 260 may move in thedirection of Arrow A to a vertical position as in FIG. 1C, ring 268 maymove away from carbonating head lower 135, thus constricting prongs 255.It will be appreciated flexible prongs 255 may comprise relativelythicker end elements to catch below a screw top of bottle 170 tofacilitate the clamping process as ring 268 may be lowered.

It will be appreciated that the opening of a typical bottle 170 may belarge enough that a prong 255 might accidentally fit inside when a userinserts bottle 170. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, centering ring 269 may extend from underneathconstricting ring 268. Centering ring 269 may comprise centering ribs258 which may be positioned to guide bottle 170 into the center area ofpronged clamp 250. Centering ribs 258 may be generally located behindthe gaps between individual prongs 255 to prevent bottle 170 from“snagging” on a prong 255 as it may be inserted.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1E which illustrates a cross sectionalview of a bottle 170 as held by pronged clamp 250. Prong 255A mayrepresent the position of one of prongs 255 when pronged clamp 250 maybe engaged; conversely, prong 255B may represent the position of thesame prong 255 when clamp 250 is not engaged. Bottle 170 may comprisebottle ring 171, threads 172 and bottle lip 173. Bottle ring 171 mayrepresent a ring extending around the spout of a typical plastic bottle.Seal 259 may represent a flexible material positioned around the openingof bottle 170.

As illustrated in FIG. 1E, when pronged clamp 250 is engaged, it mayexert a force upwards from underneath bottle ring 171, thereby causingbottle lip 173 to extend into seal 259. It will be appreciated that seal259 may be configured to allow access to the contents of bottle 170 fromassembly 130 for the purposes of carbonation and subsequent venting ofpressurized CO₂. Accordingly, when constricted by constricting ring 268,pronged clamp 250 may clamp and seal the opening of bottle 170 againstseal 259 such that bottle 170 may only be vented via assembly 130. Asdiscussed hereinabove, prior art versions of assembly 130 may typicallyhave two release valves, each configured to open under differentcircumstances. For example, exhaust valve 210 (FIG. 1A) may beconfigured to vent when the pressure build up inside bottle 170indicates that the carbonation pressure (typically 8 bars) has beenreached. Safety valve 220 may be configured to vent as a safety measurewhen the pressure inside bottle 170 exceeds recommended levels, forexample, 11 bars of pressure.

Applicants have realized that additional safety measures may be requiredto prevent the buildup of excess pressure during an automated process.In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, asoda machine having pronged clamp 250 may also comprise a normally opendouble action safety valve 270. Reference is now made to FIG. 2A whichillustrates an exemplary double action safety valve 270 in a normal openstate. As is discussed in detail hereinbelow, the fact that doubleaction safety valve 270 may be open in its normal state (as opposed tovalves 210 and 220 which may normally be closed) may provide anadditional level of safety for the operation of the soda machine. Thesoda machine may be configured to close safety valve 270 as part of thecarbonation process, and to re-open it when the process finishes.

Double action safety valve 270 may comprise contact pin 275, poppet 410,aperture 425, conduit 420 and springs 430 and 440. In its normal openstate, as shown in FIG. 2A, the tension of spring 430 may serve toprevent poppet 410 from closing aperture 420. However, when, asdescribed hereinabove, contact pin 275 may be depressed duringcarbonation, such as by a cam defining the carbonation process,described in more detail hereinbelow, it may be pushed into valve 270,thereby exerting sufficient force on spring 430 to allow poppet 410 toslide into position to close aperture 425. It will be appreciated thatconduit 420 may represent tubing (not shown) that may connect withcarbonation head assembly 130. Accordingly, since valve 270 may benormally open even when connected to a bottle 170, it may provide anadditional safeguard to the operation of machine 100 by ensuring thatthe contents of an attached bottle 170 may always be vented unless thecarbonation process is expressly active at the time.

Upon completion of the carbonation process, contact pin 275 may nolonger be depressed. Accordingly, at that point, contact pin 275 may nolonger exert sufficient force on spring 430 to prevent it from movingpoppet 410 to open aperture 420, thus returning safety valve 270 to itsnormally open state.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention,safety valve 270 may be further configured to open during thecarbonation process itself if for whatever reason the pressure in bottle170 may exceed a pre-determined limit. For example, spring 440 may beconfigured such that if the pressure inside bottle 170 exceeds 11 barsof pressure, poppet 410 may be moved backwards to open aperture 425,thusly venting bottle 170. It will be appreciated that 11 bars ofpressure may be sufficient to move poppet 410 even if contact pin 275 isdepressed by a cam. It will further be appreciated that theconfiguration disclosed hereinabove may be exemplary; the presentinvention may include other suitable configurations as may be requiredfor specific implementations.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2B which illustrated an alternativeembodiment of double action safety valve 270, known from herein asdouble action safety valve 270′. Double action safety valve 270′ maycomprise contact pin 275′, poppet 410′, aperture 425′, conduit 420′ andspring 415. In normal operative mode as described hereinabove, duringcarbonation, pin 275′ may exert pressure on spring 415 which may pushpoppet 410′ in order to close aperture 425′. It will be appreciated thatspring 415 may be also set to a pre-determined pressure so that whenaperture 425′ is closed and when the buildup of pressure inside bottle170 exceeds pre-determined limits (typically 11 bars), spring 415 mayrelease poppet 410′ and therefore re-open aperture 425′ to allow forventing of excess gas.

Applicant has realized that the pronged clamp of the present inventionmay be utilized in a manually operated soda machine or in an automatedsoda machine.

It will be appreciated that in order to provide automated operation, ahome soda machine must comprise means for receiving electrical inputvia, for example, a connection with the mains or a battery.Understandably, the introduction of electricity into any machine is notwithout risk. Accordingly, as opposed to a manually operated home sodamachine, an automated version may require built-in safeguards to preventdamage from electricity. However, it will also be appreciated that inaddition to the exposure to direct damage caused by electricity, addingan electrical component to the carbonation process may also indirectlyadd to the risks of using pressurized CO₂. If, for whatever reason,there is a power interruption while the CO₂ canister is open, there maybe considerable exposure to explosion from continuing the carbonationprocess past safe levels of pressure. For example, in the prior artsystem disclosed in EP 1351758, if the power is cut while the camassembly is in position to mechanically open the CO₂ canister, excesspressure may build up in the soda machine with undesirable results.

Accordingly, Applicant has realized that an automated home soda machinemay require one or more additional safeguards to ensure that the supplyof pressurized CO₂ may be terminated in the event of an electricaloutage during operation. Reference is now made to FIGS. 3A and 3B whichillustrate two states of a novel, semi-automated home soda machine 100,designed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 3A illustrates a machine 100 with an attachedwater bottle 170; whereas FIG. 3B illustrates machine 100 at a pointduring the process of attaching bottle 170. Semi-automated home sodamachine 100 may comprise carbonation head assembly 130, CO₂ canister140, and carbonation gear assembly 150. Carbonation head assembly 130may function in a generally similar manner as the assembly disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 7,975,988. However, assembly 130 may also compriseadditional features/functionality as may be disclosed hereinbelow.

To operate home soda machine 100, a user may first manually attach waterbottle 170 by fitting it at an angle to carbonation head assembly 130 asshown in FIG. 1B. A carbonation process may then be initiated via a setof one or more controls (not shown). The control set may comprise acontrol to initiate carbonation; one or more additional controls may beconfigured to facilitate the selection of a desired level ofcarbonization (i.e. “weak/low”, “regular/medium”, “strong/high”). Thepresent invention may include any suitable controls such as are known inthe art, including, for example, switches, pushbuttons, dials, etc.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4A which illustrates carbonation gearassembly 150 as it may be positioned within an exemplary home sodamachine 100. Carbonation gear assembly 150 may comprise motor 310,interlocking gears 320, carbonation cam 325 and carbonation lever 330.Motor 310 may be configured to operate interlocking gears 320, which, inturn, may depress carbonation lever 330. It will be appreciated that thearrangement of interlocking gears 320 may be exemplary; any suitablearrangement such as known in the art to generate the necessary forcerequired to depress lever 330 may be included in the present invention.Carbonation lever 330 may be configured such that when depressed, it mayopen a release valve on canister 140 (FIG. 3A) to release CO₂ intotubing (not shown) that may introduce it into bottle 170 via carbonationinjector 230 (FIG. 1A).

Reference is now also made to FIG. 4B which illustrates a close up viewof an exemplary carbonation cam 325. Carbonation cam 325 may be, forexample, a raised area on one of interlocking gears 320. It will beappreciated however, that any suitable cam may be included in thepresent invention. Double action safety valve 270 may comprise contactpin 275 and may be positioned in proximity to carbonation cam 325.Assembly 150 may be configured such that, when not in use, contact pin275 may not be in direct contact with cam 325. However, when assembly150 is to be activated as part of the carbonation process, motor 310 mayrotate interlocking gears 320, thus placing cam 325 in direct contactwith contact pin 275, effectively pushing contact pin 275 in thedirection of Arrow B. One or more sensors (not shown) may be positionedon one or both ends of cam 325 to sense when contact pin 275 makescontact with cam 325. It will be appreciated that any suitable sensorssuch as are known in the art may be included in the present invention.For example, the invention may include optical, proximity, and/ormechanical sensors.

It will be appreciated that motor 310 may rotate gears 320 such that cam325 may be in contact with contact pin 275 and lever 330 may be loweredtowards canister 140 to release CO₂ for introduction into assembly 130.In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention,during the carbonation process, motor 310 may rotate gears 320 back andforth one or more times, to thereby lower and raise lever 330 to releasebursts of CO₂ from canister 140. It will be appreciated that thesensor(s) on cam 325 may signal when contact pin 275 is close to an edgeof cam 325, at which point motor 310 may reverse direction as per ArrowsC (FIG. 4B), thus effectively maintaining contact between contact pin275 and cam 325 during the carbonation process. Upon the completion ofthe carbonation process, motor 310 may rotate gears 320 to raise lever330 and to terminate contact between contact pin 275 and cam 325.

It will, however, be appreciated that the soda machine may be configuredto use more than one type of gas canister 140. For example, somecanisters 140 may have activating pins that require 30 newtons of forceto open, whereas other canisters 140 may have activating pins thatrequire as much as 150 newtons. Applicants have realized that it may notbe possible to configure a spring mechanism for lever 330 that may besuitable for every possible level of pressure required to open canister140. Such functionality may interfere with the normal operation ofmachine 100 where carbonation lever 330 must be applied with sufficientforce to depress the activation pin of canister 140. Accordingly, inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, thespring mechanism may be configured to yield under higher pressures suchas when the force provided by the activation pin may be 30 newtons ormore.

As discussed hereinabove, it may be possible that a power outage mayoccur during the carbonation process while carbonation lever 330 (FIG.4A) is depressed. In accordance with another preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, carbonation lever 330 may also be configured with aspring mechanism that may leverage the pressure required to opencanister 140. It will be appreciated that canisters 140 may be typicallyopened by depressing an activating pin. As a safety measure, it maytypically require significant pressure to depress the activating pin toopen canister 140. The spring mechanism in lever 330 may be configuredsuch that, in the event of a power outage while lever 330 is depressedto open canister 140, the pressure naturally returned by the activatingpin may be significant enough to overcome the inertial pressure of lever330 when it is no longer powered by motor 310.

It will be appreciated that features and functionality disclosedhereinabove may require a processor/controller unit with electricalinput. Reference is now made to FIG. 5 which illustrates an exemplaryarchitecture for integrating such a unit within home soda machine 100.Architecture 500 may comprise mechanical features such as carbonationhead assembly 130, carbonation gear assembly 150, and pronged clamp 250to introduce CO₂ from canister 140 to bottle 170 to produce carbonatedwater. Architecture 500 may also comprise controller unit 510 toautomate and control the carbonation process. Controller unit 510 may beany suitable device such as known in the art that may generally becapable of providing the relevant functionality as described herein.

Controller unit 510 may receive input from one or more sensors, forexample, bottle presence sensor 515, bottle full/empty sensor 520,attitude sensor 525, bottle size sensor 530 and/or CO₂ available sensor560. Sensor 515 may indicate whether or not a bottle 170 has beenproperly inserted and clamped by pronged clamp 250. Sensor 520 mayindicate whether or not bottle 170 is full. Sensor 525 may indicatewhether or not home soda machine 100 is positioned in an upright manner.Sensor 530 may indicate the size of bottle 170, for example, either ahalf liter or a full liter. CO₂ available sensor 560 may indicatewhether or not there is CO₂ in canister 140. It will be appreciated thatsensors 515, 520, 525, 530 and 560 may be implemented using any suitablesensors such as known in the art.

It will be appreciated that, based on input from these sensors, unit 510may abort or adjust a carbonation process. For example, if sensor 515cannot detect bottle 170, controller unit 510 may abort the process.Controller unit 510 may also abort the process when sensor 525 indicatesthat home bottle 170 is not positioned in an upright manner. Carbonationin such circumstances may be adversely affected by gravity. Furthermore,removing a freshly carbonated bottle 170 from a non-upright position maybe potentially dangerous and in any case would certainly causeundesirable spillage.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, home soda machine 100 may be configured with capacitor 550 tostore an electrical charge during operation of machine 100. If a poweroutage occurs during the carbonation process, unit 510 may instructmotor 310 to rotate gears 320 in such a manner as to open double actionsafety valve 270 and to raise lever 330 from connection with canister140. The stored charge may provide sufficient power to motor 310 toexecute the instructions.

Controller unit 510 may also use input from sensor 530 to adjust theprocess in accordance with the size of bottle 170. It will beappreciated that the present invention may include other sensors aswell. For example, as discussed hereinabove, one or more sensors may beused to ensure that plunger 275 may be in contact with cam 325 duringthe carbonation process. It will similarly be appreciated that thepresent invention may be configured without some or all of the sensorsdiscussed herein.

As discussed hereinabove, home soda machine 100 may be configured toprovide a variety of carbonation options depending on the preferences ofits users. Such preferences may be indicated via soda level switches 540and/or LCD user interface 590. It will be appreciated that any othersuitable controls for indicating preferences and/or initiating thecarbonation process may also be included in the present invention.Controller 510 may be configured to continue the carbonation processuntil the water in water bottle 160 is sufficiently carbonated inaccordance with the preferences selected by the user.

Accordingly, controller unit 510 may provide a variety of instructionsto motor 310 based on the preferences selected by the user. For example,home soda machine 100 may be configured to provide “weak” carbonizationwith three timed bursts of CO₂; medium carbonization with four bursts ofCO₂; and strong carbonization with five bursts of CO₂. Accordingly, if auser selects “medium”, unit 510 may instruct motor 310 to rotateinterlocking gears 320 such that lever 330 may be depressed four times.It will be appreciated that the number of bursts listed hereinabove foreach carbonization strength may be exemplary; the invention may beconfigured to provide a requested strength in accordance with anysuitable combination of number/length/interval of bursts.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, home soda machine 100 may be configured with a watchdogmechanism 580 positioned between power input 599 and power supply 570.Watchdog mechanism 580 may be configured to monitor the length of timethat the carbonation process has been running. In the event that thetiming of the carbonation process exceeds a threshold, watchdogmechanism 580 may cut off the input from power input 599. For example,home soda machine 100 may be configured to provide a maximum of 30seconds of carbonation under the assumption that any more may result inunsafe conditions. In the event that continuous usage occurs for longerthan a configurable threshold such as 30 seconds, it may be assumed thata “runaway” event may be occurring. Accordingly, watchdog mechanism 580may shut down the process in a brutal fashion by cutting off electricalinput.

It will be appreciated that after carbonation, the contents of waterbottle 170 may be under significant pressure. It will therefore beappreciated that an immediate opening of the seal formed by prongedclamp 250 and water bottle 170 may create a “rocket effect” when bottle170 is removed from machine 100. However, as disclosed hereinabove,double action safety valve 270 may revert to a normal open statewhenever carbonation is not in process. Thus bottle 170 may be at leastpartially vented before its removal to mitigate the “rocket” effect.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6 which illustrates an additional safetyfeature designed to prevent such a “rocket effect” occurring. Inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, safetyvalve 220 may be leveraged to provide a locking mechanism, to preventthe release of bottle 170 during an active carbonation process. FIG. 6illustrates a novel cam 600 comprising a recessed contact area 605.Recessed contact area 605 may be covered by a flat spring 610 which,together, may provide a mechanical stop to the movement of bottle 170.As shown in FIG. 6, when activating pin 280 is in contact with cam 600during the carbonation process, flat spring 610 may be depressed asdepicted by flat spring 610A. Flat spring 610B may indicate the normalstate of flat spring 610, when the carbonation process is over and thereis no longer any pressure in the bottle 170. It will be appreciated thatas illustrated by comparing FIG. 1B, cam 600 may be generally staticwhen bottle 170 is released, whereas valve 220 may generally swingoutwardly along with bottle 170. Accordingly, if activating pin 280 islodged in recessed contact area 280, it may prevent such motion,essentially locking bottle 170 in place while carbonation is in processand there is pressure in bottle 170.

It will be appreciated that the present invention may include other suchlocking mechanisms for other home soda machines that may or may not beconfigured with safety valve 220 (FIG. 2). For example, mechanical,non-automated home soda machines may not require a novel cam 600 andspring 610, but may still be configured with pronged clamp 250. For suchmachines, any suitable locking mechanism such as known in the art may beused to prevent a user from releasing bottle 170 while simultaneouslyinitiating carbonation. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, mechanical home soda machines may be configured witha safety lock that may be engaged as soon bottle 170 is clasped bypronged clasp 250. In order to release bottle 170, the user may firsthave to expressly unlock the safety lock, thus enabling at least partialrelease of built up CO₂ prior to bottle release and effectivelypreventing the rocket effect.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 7A and 7B, which illustrate an exemplarylocking mechanism for a non-automated machine. In this embodiment, themechanical stop may be a rib 600 formed on a lever 610 of the machine.Rib 600 may have an elbow shape, with a relatively vertical portion 602,a relatively horizontal portion 604 and an elbow point 606. In addition,this embodiment may comprise a pronged clamp, denoted by a constrictingring 668, a pivot rod 614 and an assembly with an extension 612 whichmay move with respect to rib 600.

In a locked state, shown in FIG. 7A, lever 610 may be lowered withrespect to a housing 620. In this position, bottle 170 may be engaged bythe pronged clamp and thus, may be upright. Constricting ring 668 maythus be horizontal and thus, extension 612, which may be perpendicularto constricting ring 668, may be vertical. Lever 610 may be located suchthat extension 612 may extend past rib portion 602. Since rib portion602 may jut out from lever 610, rib portion 602 may prevent extension612 from rotating and thus, may prevent a user from removing bottle 170from the pronged clamp which is constricted by constricting ring 668.

When lever 610 may be raised, as shown in FIG. 7B, it may raise rib 600with respect to extension 612. Vertical rib portion 602 may be raisedsuch that the tip of extension 612 may pass elbow point 606. As aresult, the tip of extension 612 may no longer be constrained byvertical rib portion 602. In this state, the bottle as held by thepronged clamp may be rotated and thus, constricting rib 668 is shown inboth a vertical and a rotated state.

Thus, in this embodiment, only once lever 610 may be raised, such as mayhappen after carbonation, can the bottle be removed from the prongedclamp. Rib 600 may provide a mechanical stop to the rotation of thebottle. In this manner, the removal of the bottle after carbonation mayoccur a few seconds after carbonation finishes, which may enablesufficient excess gasses to escape to prevent the rocket effect.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the precedingdiscussions, it is appreciated that, throughout the specification,discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,”“calculating,” “determining,” or the like, refer to the action and/orprocesses of a computer, computing system, or similar electroniccomputing device that manipulates and/or transforms data represented asphysical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system'sregisters and/or memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers orother such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the present invention may include apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limitedto, any type of disk, including floppy disks, optical disks,magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), compact discread-only memories (CD-ROMs), random access memories (RAMs),electrically programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electricallyerasable and programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic oroptical cards, Flash memory, or any other type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions and capable of being coupled to acomputer system bus.

While certain features of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, andequivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is,therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended tocover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spiritof the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A home use carbonation machine comprising: acarbonation assembly to carbonate liquid with pressurized gas; anelectrical controller to operate said carbonation assembly; and at leastone safeguard to prevent damage from said pressurized gas when saidelectrical controller stops working during a carbonation process due toan electrical outage.
 2. A home use carbonation machine comprising: acarbonation assembly to carbonate liquid with pressurized gas; whereinsaid carbonation assembly comprises a pronged clamp apparatus forattaching a soda bottle to said carbonation machine, an electricalcontroller to operate said carbonation assembly and; at least onesafeguard to terminate the supply of pressurized gas in the event of anelectrical outage.
 3. A home use carbonation machine comprising: acarbonation assembly to carbonate liquid with pressurized gas; anelectrical controller to operate said carbonation assembly and; at leastone safeguard to terminate the supply of pressurized gas in the event ofan electrical outage wherein said at least one safeguard comprises atleast one normally open safety valve to vent a bottle when saidcarbonation machine is not actively carbonating.